In language learning, aided language modeling refers to the method by which communication partners provide models of the communication system used by individuals with complex communication repertoires that involving both symbols and speech. Providing aided language models creates opportunities for individuals with complex communication repertoires…

Though considerable progress has been made in developing techniques for improving the acquisition of expressive verbal communication in children with autism, research has documented that 10-25% still fail to develop speech. One possible technique that could be significant in facilitating responding for this nonverbal subgroup of children is the…

The study focuses on language and cognitive abilities of siblings of the linguistically most affected children with autism (i.e. siblings of nonverbal children--SIBS-ANV). Twenty-eight SIBS-ANV (17 boys), ages 4-9 years, took part in the study. All children attended regular schools, and none had received a diagnosis of autism. Controls were 27…

This study seeks to provide an introduction to some linguistic features of adolescent-therapist conversation, focusing on characteristics of adolescent speech that may appear during therapy. These include problems of expressing feelings, therapy talk as schoolroom talk, powerful forms of questioning, adolescent narrative, and lying. (26…

Identifies four strategies used to communicate experiences that are beyond expression: silence, qualified expression, poetic expression, and antiexpression. Maintains that, although these strategies violate normal expectations of efficient message transactions, they occasionally succeed remarkably in communicating understanding and thus present a…

The importance of human communication is the focus of this guide for improving language habits, which explores both various communication problems and techniques for handling them. Topics discussed are as follows: bad language habits; words as symbols which do not dictate the nature of things in the real world; inaccurate communication which…

This 10th-grade unit in Minnesota's "language-centered" curriculum introduces the complexity of linguistic meaning by demonstrating the relationships among linguistic symbols, their referents, their interpreters, and the social milieu. The unit begins with a discussion of Ray Bradbury's "The Kilimanjaro Machine," which…